Sliding door and wardrobe arrangement

ABSTRACT

A sliding door and wardrobe arrangement is constructed to include a wardrobe body and a reversible sliding door structure controlled to close/open the wardrobe body, the reversible sliding door structure including a hollow cylindrical casing movable along horizontal top and bottom tracks of the wardrobe body, a folding collapsible sliding door, the folding collapsible sliding door having a fixed end fastened to the frame structure of the wardrobe body and a free end coupled to the casing, a plurality of cord members transversely fastened to the folding collapsible sliding door at different elevations to guide the folding collapsible sliding door between an extended position and a received position, the cord members each having a free end inserted into the inside of the casing and extended over a pulley inside the casing, and a weight fixedly fastened to the free end of each of the cord members and adapted to receive the folding collapsible sliding door each time the folding collapsible sliding door is unlocked from the extended position.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention

[0002] The present invention relates to a wardrobe for holding clothesand, more particularly, to a sliding door and wardrobe arrangement.

[0003] 2. Description of the Related Art

[0004] Conventional portable wardrobes are commonly comprised of a metalwardrobe frame and a covering of plastic sheet material covering themetal wardrobe frame. These portable wardrobes commonly use a zipperfastener for operation by hand to close/open the front door. However,because the two opposite door panels of the covering of plastic sheetmaterial have a respective bottom side coupled to the zip fastener, thefront door is not fully opened when unfastened the zipper fastener. Inorder to eliminate this problem, additional zip fasteners are providedfor enabling-the door panels of the covering of plastic sheet materialto be fully opened. However, it is inconvenient to unfasten all the zipfasteners.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0005] The present invention has been accomplished under thecircumstances in view. It is one object of the present invention toprovide a sliding door and wardrobe arrangement, which uses a slidingdoor to close/open the wardrobe. It is another object of the presentinvention to provide a sliding door and wardrobe arrangement, whichautomatically receives the sliding door without consuming power eachtime the folding collapsible sliding door unlocked from the extendedposition. It is still another object of the present invention to providea sliding door and wardrobe arrangement, which has the sliding door madefolding collapsible. To achieve these and other objects of the presentinvention, the sliding door and wardrobe arrangement comprises twotracks respectively and horizontally installed in top and bottom framesof the wardrobe body; a hollow cylindrical casing, the casing having atop side and a bottom side; two slides respectively fixedly provided atthe top and bottom sides of the casing and respectively coupled to thetracks to guide movement of the casing along the tracks; a pulleypivotally fastened to the inside of the casing near the top side of thecasing; a folding collapsible sliding door, the folding collapsiblesliding door having a first vertical side fixedly fastened to thewardrobe frame and a second vertical side secured to the casing; aplurality of cord members transversely fastened to the foldingcollapsible sliding door at different elevations to guide the foldingcollapsible sliding door between an extended position and a receivedposition, the cord members each having a free end inserted into theinside of the casing and extended over the pulley; and a weight fixedlyfastened to the free end of each of the cord members and adapted toreceive the folding collapsible sliding door each time the foldingcollapsible sliding door is unlocked from the extended position.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0006]FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the preferred embodiment of thepresent invention, showing the folding collapsible sliding door extendedout.

[0007]FIG. 2 is another perspective view of the present invention,showing the folding collapsible sliding door received.

[0008]FIG. 3 is a sectional front plain view of the present invention,showing the weight lifted.

[0009]FIG. 4 is another sectional front plain view of the presentinvention, showing the weight lowered, the folding collapsible slidingdoor received.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

[0010] Referring to FIG. 1, a sliding door and wardrobe arrangement inaccordance with the present invention is shown comprised of arectangular wardrobe body formed of horizontal top and bottom frames 2and four posts 22 vertically connected between the top and bottom frames2 in four corners, a covering covering the wardrobe body, and areversible sliding door structure mounted in wardrobe body and moved toclose/open the front opening of the wardrobe body.

[0011] Referring to FIG. 3 and FIG. 1 again, the aforesaid reversiblesliding door structure comprises a hollow cylindrical casing 1, twoslides 12 respectively fixedly located on the top and bottom sides ofthe casing 1 and respectively coupled to a respective track 21 in thetop and bottom frames 2 to guide movement of the casing 1 along the topand bottom frames 2, and a folding collapsible sliding door 13 coupledto the casing 1. The folding collapsible sliding door 13 comprises aplurality of vertical slats 131 vertically arranged in parallel, aplurality of cord members 14 transversely (horizontally) fastened to thevertical slats 131 to join the vertical slats 131 and to be the verticalslats 131 be moved between the extended position and 3 and the receivedposition. The cord members 14 each have one end respectively insertedinto the inside of the casing 1 and extended over a pulley 16 at a topside inside the casing 1, and finally connected to a weight 17. Theremote one of the vertical slat 131 (the one remote from the casing 1)is fastened to one post 22 of the wardrobe body by fastening means, forexample, hook and loop materials. Further, a handle 11 is located on thecasing 1 for moving the folding collapsible sliding door 13 between theclose (extended) position and the open (received) position.

[0012] Referring to FIGS. 1˜4 again, when the user pulled the handle 11to move the casing 1 along the tracks 21 of the top and bottom frames 2in direction away from the post 22 to which the remote vertical slat isfastened, the vertical slats 131 are extended out to close the wardrobe(see FIGS. 1 and 3). When the folding collapsible sliding door 13 fullyextended out, the lock (not shown) is fastened up to lock the foldingcollapsible sliding door 13 in the extended (close) position. At thistime, the weight is lifted to the upper position. When unlocked thelock, the weight falls due to the effect of its gravity weight, therebycausing the cord members 14 to pull the casing 1 along the tracks 21 ofthe top and bottom frames 2 to the post 22 to which the remote verticalslat is fastened, and therefore the folding collapsible sliding door 13is received and, the wardrobe is opened (see FIGS. 2 and 4).

[0013] Although a particular embodiment of the invention has beendescribed in detail for purposes of illustration, various modificationsand enhancements may be made without departing from the spirit and scopeof the invention. Accordingly, the invention is not to be limited exceptas by the appended claims.

What the invention claimed is:
 1. A sliding door and wardrobearrangement comprising a wardrobe body having a wardrobe frame defininga front opening and a covering of flexible sheet material covering saidwardrobe frame, and a reversible sliding door structure mounted in saidwardrobe body and moved to close/open the front opening of said wardrobebody, wherein said reversible sliding door structure comprises: twotracks respectively and horizontally installed in top and bottom framesof said wardrobe body; a hollow cylindrical casing, said casing having atop side and a bottom side; two slides respectively fixedly provided atthe top and bottom sides of said casing and respectively coupled to saidtracks to guide movement of said casing along said tracks; a pulleypivotally fastened to the inside of said casing near the top side ofsaid casing; a folding collapsible sliding door, said foldingcollapsible sliding door having a first vertical side fixedly fastenedto said wardrobe frame and a second vertical side secured to saidcasing; a plurality of cord members transversely fastened to saidfolding collapsible sliding door at different elevations to guide saidfolding collapsible sliding door between an extended position and areceived position, said cord members each having a free end insertedinto the inside of said casing and extended over said pulley; and aweight fixedly fastened to the free end of each of said cord members andsuspended from said pulley inside said casing.
 2. The sliding door andwardrobe arrangement as claimed in claim 1 wherein said foldingcollapsible sliding door is comprised of a plurality of vertical slatsrespectively coupled to said cord members and arranged in parallel. 3.The sliding door and wardrobe arrangement as claimed in claim 1 whereinsaid casing has a handle located on the periphery thereof.